Problem: A rectangle is $3$ centimeters long. The rectangle is also $5$ centimeters wide. What is its area?
Solution: $3\text{ cm}$ $5\text{ cm}$ 10 11 12 13 14 15 The area is the length times the width. The length is 3 centimeters. The width is 5 centimeters. Thus the area is $3\times5$ square centimeters. $ \text{area} = 3 \times 5 = 15 $ We can also count 15 square centimeters.